Stand back from the soldiers Mr Osborne please

One of the strangest pictures of the week I saw was the one in the Daily Telegraph which showed George Osborne eating in an Army mess in Afghanistan.

With him was William Hague. I can understand why Hague was there. He is, after all, the foreign secretary in waiting. But Osborne, presumably the chancellor in a Tory government? When was the last time the current chancellor, Alistair Darling, went out to spend time with our troops?

The line from Osborne's people is that the shadow chancellor wanted to see what life was really like on the front line to help determine spending policies on defence.

Now safely back in Britain - how David Cameron must be relieved that his weak link is back at his side - Osborne has promised that the children of every dead soldier will get university bursaries, a move which will cost £1.5million a year.

In other words, peanuts in the great scheme of things. That doesn't make it the wrong thing to do, but at a time when there's a hole of around £30bn in the Tories spending plans, it seems a little odd that Osborne is finding time to announce such small figures.

There is, of course, only one reason for Osborne's pledge to introduce these bursaries on the first day of a Tory government. And only one reason he felt the need to accompany Hague out to Afghanistan.

Yes, the general election campaign. Given the snow, and given Hoon and Hewitt's laughable coup attempt, it's no wonder Cameron's election war footing had been forgotten.

And it's important that defence spending is a key issue. But there's a difference between promising to support our troops and using them as a photo opportunity, and, indeed, conjuring up cheap policies on the back of fatalities in war.

Osborne is an important man. He needed protection and security. His visit will have been a distraction and a commitment our stretched troops didn't need. All for the sake of a photo opportunity.

If he really wants to be the man who cares for our troops, he needs to stop using them to show the Tory softer side, and start working out, in public, how he'll ensure they have the best equipment and be able to get on with their job without political distractions.

It didn't need a trip to the badlands of Afghanistan to find out what troops felt they wanted - there are tens of thousands of troops back home who'd happily have told him. But that's not as a good a photo opportunity is it? And certainly not a photo opportunity you can guarantee just for your favourite newspaper, the Daily Telegraph?

George, get on with your job and let our troops get on with theirs.